An Affair to Remember

Maura Tierney Has Reached the End of The Affair

The Golden Globe winner looks back on five seasons of her sultry Showtime drama—and opens up about her costar Ruth Wilson’s mysterious exit from the series.

By Will Harris

August 22, 2019

Image may contain Furniture Couch Human Person Sitting Living Room Room Indoors Wood and Dominic West

Maura Tierney spent four years starring on the sitcom NewsRadio—but ever since moving seamlessly from that series to ER, she’s appeared in nothing on the small screen but dramas (with the exception of a one-off appearance on The Office). Indeed, when I suggested that she might be ready for comedy again after spending five seasons on Showtime’s The Affair—which premieres its fifth and final season this Sunday—she enthusiastically agreed: “Yes! My God, yes!” There’s just one problem, added Tierney: “I mean, I don’t get hired for that stuff anymore.”

But either way, Tierney’s performance as Helen Butler—whose life is upended due to the extramarital relationship between her husband, Noah (Dominic West), and Alison (Ruth Wilson), a waitress at a local diner—has paid off handsomely for her. She’s earned considerable critical acclaim for the series, as well as a much-deserved supporting-actress prize at the 2016 Golden Globes. Before The Affair’s last premiere, Tierney spoke with Vanity Fair about the long, occasionally agonizing journey her character has taken over the course of its five-season run, getting candid about Wilson’s mysterious exit from the show, the toll the series took on its cast, and the reason she doesn’t regret a minute of it.

Vanity Fair: Are you happy that The Affair is ending? Do you think it could’ve gone longer, or was this the time to go?

Maura Tierney: I think this was the time to go. I think we’ve sort of wrung everything out of it. [Laughs.] But it’s been on a long time!

I’ve seen the first two episodes, so I’ve caught some of the early twists and turns of the final season.

What’d you think?

I think it’s as intense as it’s ever been. That second episode in particular is very emotional. But it’s been that way since the very beginning, so real that—as someone who is married—it’s actually nerve-wracking to watch.

Yeah, I think a lot of people who’ve worked on the show, their marriages have changed…or ended. And I think that was reflected in the writing. Throughout the process of the show, [series cocreator] Sarah Treem and her husband got divorced. So all of that is going to inform the show.

Did you offer any input along those lines for Helen?

Oh, yeah. And they listened. I mean, the show is Sarah’s show. It’s Sarah’s voice, make no mistake, and it’s a real specific voice, too. But it’s not like she wouldn’t listen or that we had zero input. There were conversations, yeah, and sometimes I would pitch stuff. And I’d try to inject humor whenever I could, because I think that show needed a little bit of that now and then.

Over the course of Helen’s journey, have there been any twists that really surprised or threw you?

No, I wouldn’t say “surprised” me, because usually Sarah would talk to me before the season and kind of generally give me a heads up of what they were planning. And I...didn’t always agree. [Laughs.] So I wouldn’t say “surprised,” but there were definitely times when the character would do things that I don’t think I would ever do.

Is there a particular moment that you can recall where you and your character weren’t on the same page?

In season four, when Vic says, “Please don’t tell my parents, I just want them to have this one night of happiness.” And then she does it! [Laughs.] I would never do that! If my partner said, “Can you just please keep your mouth shut about this for a minute,” I would. So that’s one example. But I guess it was dramatic.

I was surprised to discover that the series was doing a time jump for a portion of this season.

Oh, yeah! I’m very curious about that. I didn’t see any of that. Okay, maybe I saw one set. But I wasn’t in it, so I didn’t get to work with Anna [Paquin], and all of it, it’ll be completely new to me. But it’s exciting that Anna’s on the show. Although I miss Josh [Jackson] and Ruth [Wilson].

On that note, Ruth obviously asked to leave the show, and they gave her that opportunity. But were you surprised when she made that decision to leave?

Um...I don’t know. People have different tolerances for different things, you know? I’m not surprised by much.

Well, it is a very intense show. I can see how someone could run their course with it.

Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Or how long they want to do one thing. The work was certainly very demanding for her. Like, that character was just suffering all the time. I mean, I can’t speculate as to what happened...

Nor was I asking you to. I was just wondering if you were surprised when she asked to leave.

No. I’ve been on other shows where other people...No, you know, this show is very specific. And it’s very demanding. And sometimes people have a shelf life for it. I think that’s what I would say.

Going into this final season, was there any aspect of Helen that hadn’t yet been explored that you were hoping they’d tackle?

Well, we thought it was going to be a fun year. [Laughs.] And it sort of is funny, because Helen goes on to date the actor that’s playing Noah in the movie based on the book he wrote. And we mined some humor out of it, but then...I don’t know, I think sometimes Sarah is just compelled to go to the darkest depths of human behavior. And Claes [Bang] is great. So we got to do some fun stuff for a couple of episodes.

As far as the ending of the series, I wouldn’t want you to spoil anything even if you were allowed to, but...

I’ll spoil it. I don’t care. We’re done! What do you want to know?

All I want to know is if you were happy with the conclusion of Helen’s journey.

I...was—I think so. I mean, you know, the flaw in the character is that she’s always trying to make everything all right for everybody. And that’s impossible! So the idea this season was to push her into some circumstances where she’d realize that it’s impossible. And I don’t know if Helen really does. [Laughs.] It might just be who she is.

But there’s something really nice in the final episode about people being honest with themselves. It’s just sort of about accepting that you love who you love, and who the fuck cares what anybody thinks about that. It’s said in a more eloquent way, but I like that.

Do you feel like the experience of doing the show was worthwhile, both personally and professionally?

Yeah, it’s sort of...I mean, okay, we know it’s only acting, right? But at the end of a season, you can get very drained, because you’re going to have to be in that kind of despair for so long. Pretend despair—but your body doesn’t necessarily know the difference between [the two] when you’re manufacturing it. So that can take its toll. And it can be draining. But professionally it was great for me. Also, everybody I met—but especially Dom, Josh, and Ruth—they’re just, like, wonderful people. And extremely talented actors. And we really supported each other, and we were a tight group. And that was so valuable. It doesn’t happen all the time.

You know, Josh and I were talking about it, because we were the two that had sort of done the most TV. He started from a younger age—I’m older—but we’d been on TV a lot. And it doesn‘t happen all the time that everybody really, truly gets along and has respect for each other and there’s no ego, and no one’s being infantile.

And as far as being drained after filming a season, I don’t doubt it. Just watching it can be draining.

Yeah, it can be. But then you try to reflect, and you go, “Yes, but you’re trying to do this job that provides entertainment or distraction or whatever.” And I have a lot of gratitude to be able to do it. So if I’m emotionally drained, that’s okay. That means I did my job.

So now that you’re done with the show, you’re doing a play, Witch. And then you’ve got The Report, which is scheduled to come out November 15.

Oh, yeah, and that’s definitely good. [Laughs.] That’s a great movie.

Beyond that, are you looking toward the future in terms of another series? Or are you just keeping your options open?

Right now, I don’t have any plans. There’s a couple of writers I’ve met with over the course of The Affair that I’d love to work with again, so I’m potentially talking to some of them. But my next main gig is, I’m a minister in the Universal Life Church, and I have two weddings I have to officiate in October. [Laughs] It’s almost like a second career now!

Finally, I’m obliged to ask at least one NewsRadio question before we go: Given how many reboots we’ve seen, do you think there’d ever be any consideration about reviving the series? Even if it was just you and Dave Foley?

Yeah, I mean, I know everyone’s busy. I just saw Stephen Root a few weeks ago, but Paul [Simms] is making What We Do in the Shadows, and...I’m not sure what Dave’s doing. But it’s really funny that you say this, because someone asked me yesterday who I’d want to play me in a movie, and I was thinking Dave. [Laughs.] Because he’s so funny, and he looks really good in a dress.